


no-jam crushed

by leedaiki



Category: NCT
Genre: F/M, Sorry For Making This A Straight Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 21:35:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10953183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leedaiki/pseuds/leedaiki
Summary: in which jaemin has to deal with jeno being head over heels over his crush every five minutes and jisung yells about it to the whole world





	1. mark is unfazed

**Author's Note:**

> what even is this title   
> anyways i wrote this back in march and it's messy so yeah enjoy

“This just in: our favorite no-jam guy has a crush on a girl!”

Mark Lee was the first one to react: he stood up quickly and scratched his scalp in confusion. He thought they all were ‘shipping’ him with Donghyuck. Why would they suddenly attack him out of nowhere with.. this? Who would they pair him up with this time? Lami? (The last time, it was Koeun and Herin.)

Right then, a book came flying out of nowhere and hit Park Jisung’s face. Jisung who just yelled out the huge news, rubbed his face while laughing and ran around the room with Lee Jeno right at his tail. Mark let out an “Ah,” in understanding and sat down, continuing whatever he was up to.

“Jisung! You! Little! Brat!” Jeno yelled, throwing whatever he could find at Jisung’s way. Jisung still had the goddamn smug smile on his face and it irked Jeno so much, he wanted to lock Jisung up in a room full of plastic cockroaches. (Plastic cockroaches, because real ones are way too disgusting.)

While both the teenagers were still running around the room, Lee Donghyuck had processed everything into his mind and also stood up, with the ‘* _pretends to be shocked_ *’ look on his face. “Oh my God, Jeno likes someo – ”

“Shush!” Jeno stopped chasing Jisung and instead caught Donghyuck in a head-lock and covered his mouth with his free hand. “All you’re hearing is a bunch of bollocks, don’t trust the child of Satan!”

“A bunch of bollocks indeed, huh,” Na Jaemin said from his spot on his favorite beanbag, snickering. That bastard, of course he knew everything already. Jeno shot him a look that said ‘shut up or I’ll tell everyone that you and Hina snogged in the practice room’, which made Jaemin raise his eyebrow questioningly. ‘Would you really?’ his expression read.

“I caught Jaemin snogging Hina that day!” Jeno yelled out, feeling proud of himself. Jaemin leaned back onto his beanbag and let out a scoff. “You wish you did. I’m gay for you, Jeno. Damn it. Why can’t you see?”

“Our loverboy is just trying to cover up the fact that he has a crush now,” Huang Renjun’s voice was heard from across the room. Jeno let go of his free hand from Donghyuck’s mouth after he licked it (That little disgusting bastard) and shook his fist at Renjun’s direction. Renjun patted his cheek a few times as if daring Jeno to punch him and laughed.

_God help me_ , Jeno pushed Donghyuck away and plopped onto the floor. “You guys, I swear.”

“I heard she doesn’t like guys who swear!” Renjun’s laugh rang throughout the room once more. Jeno rolled his eyes and laid sprawling out on the floor, moving his arms and legs around like he was making a snow angel. “Literally. Just please, let me live. I didn’t tell you all to let you all spread it around.”

“But you didn’t even tell me!” Donghyuck pointed accusingly at Jeno. Mark agreed, not having a knowledge about what was happening. Chenle yelled something in Chinese to Renjun, asking him to spill everything that Jeno had told him. “I was going to, until Jisung told everyone!”

“Ahhhh,” Jisung did his famous oh-my-god-gesture. “You’re all welcome.”

“Just wait until the hyungs know. Ten, Johnny and Doyoung hyung will get you to tell everything to them.” Donghyuck said in a sing-song voice, laying on Jeno’s frame. “Ugh,” Jeno groaned at the thought of what would happen and attempted to push Donghyuck off him. “Don’t remind me. Go away, you’re so heavy.”

“This is my revenge because you didn’t tell me, brat.” Donghyuck remained on his spot on Jeno, sighing contently. Jeno stared up at the ceiling. What did he do to deserve this?

“Jeno.. and... his girlfriend.. sitting... on.. a... tree..” Mark sang to himself in English and Jeno had never sat up so fast before. Donghyuck got pushed off and face-planted onto the floor, but Jeno didn’t even budge. He walked straight to Mark and pulled him into a head-lock, messing his noodle hair up. “I hate you, English Marker. As much as you love your Dong-yuck.”

“It’s Donghyuck, loverboy!” Donghyuck exclaimed from his spot on the floor. It was gonna be a long, long week for him.

-

“You know, you haven’t told us who the girl is.”

They were all walking together to school that day. Jeno, Jaemin, Donghyuck and Renjun. A comfortable silence washed over them, and Jeno was daydreaming (about *cough, cough*) again as usual. He was pulled back into reality only when Renjun questioned them.

At this, Jaemin coughed into his fist and said, “I guess you could call her ‘the light of his life’,” and slapped his knee, laughing his arse off. Jeno couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed with that since that was what he called her in secret when he was alone or with Jaemin only. Gosh, he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He almost walked into the lockers too. (And people say that his eyesmile is attractive, wow. It comes with a disadvantage too, people.)

“Haha.. Yeah.. Totally get it...” Renjun fake-laughed while Donghyuck went quiet, trying to figure out just what the heck Jaemin meant by that. The light of his life? What? Does Jeno relate his crush to a lamp or something?

“Maybe he has a crush on a lamp or something.” Donghyuck mumbled, not realizing that he had said his thought out loud. He looked up at Jeno and let out an insincere “Oops,” before he got chased by the lovestruck boy.

 

Jeno was really glad that Jaemin was his seatmate in class. Otherwise, he didn’t know how to get over his feels whenever she would scream out something funny (cute, to Jeno) during class. Whenever one of these situations occurred, Jeno would hold onto Jaemin’s arm while letting out giggles, his heart fluttering. Whatever she did would make him smile, and it wasn’t even an exaggeration.

She was the most active during Science class. Their subject teacher and her weird antics would just make the atmosphere even funnier.

The class was noisy as usual during class, blocking out the teacher’s voice. Donghyuck was seen with his head laid on his right arm, staring out the window longingly, while Diligent Boy Renjun tried his best to quiet the students around him down. It sucked that no one heard him.

“You all must always look at the positive side of life,” Their Science teacher began. Jaemin looked unimpressed, and Jeno prepared himself mentally for whatever his crush would say next.

“Which side, teacher? The right side? Left side?” Then she bursted into laughter. Jeno laughed to himself too at her lame humour. He leaned himself onto Jaemin and placed his hand on his bestfriend’s thigh, “Oh my God, did you hear that, Nana? That was so funny,” he couldn’t stop laughing.

Jaemin huffed but didn’t stop himself from smiling fondly at Jeno’s acts. He was so damn whipped with someone so lame. A perfect match.

 

 

 

“And then she asked, _“Which side, teacher? The right or left side?”_ ” Jeno repeated for the nth time that day. The kids who he was telling the story to, Jisung and Chenle, bursted into huge laughter and slapped each other’s arms, causing a huge reaction. This reminded Jaemin of that one time when his friends Hina and Herin laughed and slapped each other so hard for no reason, only to cause louder laughs.

“Hyung,” Chenle said after his dolphin laugh died down, “That was so lame.”

Jisung mumbled a “Like you,” to Chenle’s ear while Jeno let out a dreamy sigh, placing his chin onto his palm. “I know. She’s so cute. She laughs at her own jokes before she can even finish it. So lame, but so cute.”

Chenle looked at Jisung when Jeno said that and turned back to face the elder. “So she’s like Jisung? When both worlds collide...” Chenle began to speak in English. Jaemin placed his book onto his lap and let out a heavy sigh. “It’ll destroy the universe. ”

“How would you even know if that’s the exact quote?” came the reply in English from the Canadian Boy Mark. “If that’s even a quote or a reference... The universe being destroyed by dad jokes, oh my Gosh.” It was too painful for anyone to imagine.

“Because I’m a professional,” Chenle turned to Jisung with a smug smile, “You know what does professional mean?”

Jisung stared back at him like a lost child. Someone, please help them, Jaemin said internally.

“He’s so lovestruck and I’m so sick of it!” Donghyuck came out of nowhere and slammed a book onto the floor. “It’s so cringe-worthy! Please! Stop it! Someone stop him! I can’t take this! It’s too much fluff for this dark and cruel world!” He cringed so hard, earning Chenle’s dolphin laugh at his reaction. Jisung laughed along, though he can’t help but to agree...

“You guys would never let me live,” Jeno pouted and Jisung agreed. “At least this is better than..” Jeno exaggerated his act of coughing and pretended to choke, “JaeHina.”

“It’s not even a ship, you guys just made it up randomly!” Jaemin exclaimed, tossing the book directly to Jeno’s face.


	2. jaemin saves the day

The class was eerily quiet. No one really talked during English classes, except for her as she was one of teacher’s most treasured students. Jeno stared at her, neglecting his uncompleted work. She had finished her work long before anybody else had and was staring at the whiteboard with a bored expression.

She seemed to be fed up with the silence and turned around to her friend who Jeno registered to be Ningning, a Chinese transferee. You could say that they both were close, Ningning tolerated her lame jokes enough times already.

A mischievous smile appeared on her face as she patted Ningning’s table a few times, distracting the Chinese girl from her homework. “What is it this time?”

“Do you know what color hamburgers are?”

Ningning raised an eyebrow.

She was already giggling to herself. “Burgundy.” And then she laughed, laughed so loud that even the teacher glanced up from her work. Ningning shook her head and muttered something in Chinese before returning to her work.

“C’mon, Ning! You can’t lie that it wasn’t funny!” Her eyes scanned the classroom for a while and landed on Jeno briefly, which made his breath hitch. “Look at him!” She pointed at a guy a few seats away who was laughing and stopped abruptly when he saw Ningning and her looking at him. She frowned. “Hey, you were laughing at my jokes a few seconds ago. I saw you.”

“Bitna,” Ningning patted her shoulder. “You can’t force someone to laugh at your lame humour.

Bae Bitna huffed childishly before pointing at someone again, and it took Jeno a few seconds to process that she was pointing at him. His long-time crush, had her attention set on him, oh my God –

“He was staring at us! I know he found my joke funny, even though it wasn’t funny.” Bitna forced an awkward smile at Jeno and held up two finger guns. “Right? Haha...”

Jeno felt as if he could faint right then and there.

“Or maybe he just likes you.” Bitna slapped Ningning’s arm and adverted her attention back from Jeno. He patted his chest in relief but his eyes widened in horror when he heard what Ningning had said. Jeno clutched his head in his hands, pulled onto his strands of dark hair. Girls are so damn scary. How do they know? How did they find out? Does Bitna know about him gushing over her everyday? Fall, Jeno’s everything, fall..

“Shut up, Ning. You should complete your work.” Bitna turned back – Ningning’s mumble of “As if you weren't the one that distracted me” went unnoticed – and repeated to herself quietly, “Burgundy,” and giggled some more. Jeno’s heart swelled.

“Gosh, Nana.” Jeno breathed out. “She’s just my type.”

 

 

 

 

Jeno couldn’t wait to get home and sleep. Soccer practice had been so tiring and his thigh muscles were so cramped, it hurt every step he took. Being the smartass he was, he forgot to do warm-ups before running to the field because he was too caught up in his homeworks. It hard to believe, he knew, but he needed the grades to get a job when he's an adult. (Adulthood, cringe.)

Sometimes, Jeno thinks that he was too good of a friend. If Jaemin weren't so close to Jeno that he could call him his soulmate, he would've ditched him right then and there because his thighs hurt so much. He recalled the horrible moments earlier when he had to walk up and down the stairs, it was the worse feeling ever.

Fifteen minutes have passed. Jaemin must be having constipation, Jeno thought. His tapped his fingers onto his knee a few times and looked up onto the clear sky, trying to forget the cramp in his thighs. He thought about the birds flying, the clouds, the sky, Jaemin who’s having constipation, Mark, markers, and of course, his favorite –

“Bitna!”

Jeno’s eyes widened in panic, the familiar voice of Bitna’s friend echoing throughout the small lawn the school had. Jeno prayed that Bitna would appear to make his day better, but also wished that she wouldn’t see him in this condition. He continued gazing at the sky and pretended as if he didn’t hear anything.

“Wait for me, you know I have short legs!” Came Bitna’s voice. Jeno chuckled to himself, imagining Bitna rushing to her friends who were too impatient to wait for the slowpoke. Speaking of slowpoke, he wondered if Jaemin had drowned in the toilet bowl or he was just taking too long.

“Ooh, look. It’s your favorite pretty soccer boy.”

Jeno’s heart started to beat quickly, his heartbeats ringing at his ears. Soccer boy? Were they referring to him? Were they talking to Bitna?

“Never in a million years would I like pretty boy Jaemin.” A scoff was heard from Bitna, and Jeno felt a rush of relief. He had forgotten that Jaemin was also on the soccer team, but why were they talk it about J –

“Waiting for a bird to poop on your face?”

Jeno sat up quickly, dizziness taking over his head. He groaned. “You took too long in the toilet, pretty boy. Now you have to carry me back home.”

“Pretty boy?” Jaemin eyed him up and down as if there was something wrong with his mentality. “Okay, ‘prettier boy’,” Jaemin replied mockingly, which made Jeno smile unconsciously. “Whatever. Just get on my back, you baby. This is what you get when you don’t work out for a week. You’ve been obsessing over your precious Bitna for too long.”

“Mhm,” Jeno rubbed his eyes and mumbled a random reply, jumping onto Jaemin’s back when he squatted down in front of him. “To home we go!”

“Hush, loverboy.”

Both bestfriends went home while bickering along the way, Jaemin threatening to throw him off a few times. Jeno’s eyesmile made its appearance once again, knowing that Jaemin won’t throw him off, and decided to test him. He was wrong.

What the boys didn’t notice was the bunch of girls standing a few meters away from them who had heard their conversation while they were still at school, right before their leave. It left the girls with topics to gossip about, and everybody knew that they won’t be living it down for weeks, at least.

[ “Obsessing over your precious Bitna, he said... Pretty boy, he said.... Is he gay or is he not?”  
“I can’t believe pretty boy Jeno likes the lame Bitna, wow.”  
“I know, right! Just wait until he has to deal with her corny pick-up lines and her awful jokes, oh my gosh.”  
“Just how many pretty boys are there?”  
“I'm still here, idiots! Talk about best friends, wow.” ]

 

 

 

“Hyung!” Jisung ran towards Jeno that evening with his phone in his hand. He had the Instagram app opened and he was viewing someone’s story, ‘herinsuh’. Herin’s, to be exact. On the screen was written, ‘wow can you believe one of the soccer team’s pretty boys likes lame bitna eonnie?’ with a bunch of laughing emojis at the end. Jeno blinked once. Twice. Once Herin gets this out, there's no way to take everything back anymore. Everyone would slowly suspect each of the soccer members and they’ll find out it’s him, the no-jam eyesmile guy, and he didn’t know what he would do when that happens.

“Bitna noona, can you believe?” Jisung snickered and retrieved his phone, shoving it into his pocket. “Who is it, hyung? You’re on the soccer team, you should know.”

“I don’t know, maybe it’s that Park Jihoon guy. Everyone knows that Bitna finds him really cute anyway.” Jeno smiled, holding himself back from snapping. Bitna finds almost every guys cute, dang it.

“But noona finds every guys cute.” Jisung’s head tilted to the side. “Okay, I'm just gonna go away now. I don’t even know why I asked. Bye, hyung! Dream of your crush tonight!” He then left, Jeno’s eyes staying on his retreating figure until it disappeared.

If Jisung finds out that it's Bitna he likes, he would never stop talking about it.

A few moments of silence passed by as Jeno strummed his guitar, humming along to the tune quietly. There was nothing else to do as a pastime. He strummed ‘Falling Slowly’ as he got entranced in the beautiful tune, only to snap back into reality when Donghyuck’s yell was heard from a few rooms away.

“Some soccer guy likes Bitna, wow!”

Jeno slammed his head against the wall. As long as his identity won’t be revealed, it’s fine. He knows that Jaemin will keep this secret hidden for his dearest bestfriend. Jeno trusted Jaemin with all his life.

 

 

 

“Pretty boy Jeno likes Bitna,” The voices of the devils kept on chanting in her head. She let her forehead land on the surface of her table harshly in hopes that it could keep the voices out, but it only succeeded in bringing excruciating pain. Bitna whimpered and rubbed at her red forehead.

Ever since what her friends had claimed they heard after school a few days ago, everyone had been saying that Lee Jeno likes Bitna. Bitna, out of everybody out there. Why can’t he have a crush on their pretty senior Yiyang, or their cute junior Lami? Why Bitna out of everyone?

She punched her table. Maybe they were just making everything up. It’s one of those weird ships her grade mates loved to do ever since their first year in high school. It started with her with her classmate Renjun during their first year, and then this senior called Jaehyun who graduated during Bitna’s second year. And they're starting off the new year with shipping her together with Jeno. Bitna yelled silently to herself and slammed her head onto the table again. (Thank God no one really came in early during recess.) Why, out of everyone, it’s one of the cutest guys' bestfriend?

Her friends will be the death of her.

While Bitna was too busy drowning in her own misery, she didn’t realize a boy walking into the classroom. The last time she checked, she had around fifteen minutes left before recess ended so she had plenty of time all to herself. She hummed along to an English song called ‘Vapor’ and almost fell asleep.

“Lulling yourself to sleep?” A voice came and Bitna almost had a heart attack. Her face flushed pink when she saw Jaemin standing there, smiling as he just caught her in her natural habitat. She leaned her face on her book, trying to hide her embarrassment. “I thought nobody would come in early like I do, so I was just.. Yeah. Sleeping.”

“Of course.” Jaemin murmured in reply. He knew her well, heck, everyone knew that Bitna was the type to sleep in class. With or without teacher in it. No matter what the subject was. If Bitna was a demigod, she could be the child of that one God of dreams. Or was it sleep? Her knowledge on Greek Mythology failed her.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Bitna stared at a calm Jaemin, messing through his bag. “Looking for something?”

“Jeno wanted me to get his loveletter that was meant for his crush. I just forgot that I had it.” Jaemin hummed in reply. Bitna smiled forcedly, hoping that Jaemin didn’t meant her. He continued his search until he realized the tension between them. What he has just spilled. His eyes became perfectly round and he dashed out of the classroom, clutching a white envelope in his hand.

Bitna was left alone to drown in her misery, once again.

 

 

 

“Nana, what’s up? You look shaken up.” Jeno poked his bestfriend’s cheek. Jaemin didn’t budge, not moving his gaze from his half-eaten burger away. “Nana?”

“Something must've happened to him.” Renjun said after he took a sip of his soup, trying to figure out what happened to Jaemin that made him so... Shook. “No shit sherlock,” Donghyuck replied from Renjun’s side. Renjun let go of his spoon and covered Donghyuck’s mouth with his hand. “Don’t speak, child of Satan.”

“I thought Jisung was – ” “You both are.”

Jeno left the both of them to their own world and let his gaze fall onto the letter that he had asked Jaemin to retrieve. He took it out of Jaemin’s hand hastily, seeing that nothing was wrong with the letter. What was up with him?

“Nana...” Jeno mumbled, his eyes narrowing. Jaemin turned to him slowly and cracked a smile that meant he screwed something up.

“Jeno, I messed up.”

 

 

  
“YOU SAID THAT? WHEN YOU KNEW THAT THE RUMOURS WERE GOING AROUND? ARE YOU SERIOUS?”

“Well, I'm Jaemin, BUT IT WASN’T ON PURPOSE! IT WAS ON ACCIDENT! WHO KNOWS, MAYBE SHE DOESN’T KNOW THAT YOU’RE THE ONE WHO LOVES HER SO MUCH!”

“THEN EXPLAIN THE ‘AWKWARD SILENCE’ THAT YOU JUST DESCRIBED!”

“Error 404 Not Found.”

“EXACTLY! COME HERE, YOU LITTLE BRAT – ”


	3. interrogation by the elderlies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i legit slammed in new characters in this chapter, enjoy

“Lee Jeno..”

There were too many pairs of eyes staring at him. He attempted to count without making any eye contacts, but failed. One thing he knew was that all of his hyungs were there.

And they wanted to know about his crush.

“Yes..”

“What's her name?” “Who is she?” “Which grade?” “What does she look like?” “How is her hair styled?” “Is she more to cute or sexy?” “You dumbass, what kinda question was that? “Well then, is she more to cute or pretty?” “What the honk?” “Is she famous?” “Does she have many friends?” “Does she know you exist?”

Jeno pleaded them to stop internally. “Hyungs, please, I feel so overwhelmed.”

“Okay, but does she like Harry Potter?”

Jeno stared at Johnny who looked genuinely curious. Ten who was beside Johnny hit his arm and rolled his eyes. “How can she like a fictional character?”

Johnny scoffed in disbelief. “Oh, you did not just say that.”

“I did just say that, actually! How can someone like a fictional character, Johnny Suh? Elaborate.”

“First off,” Johnny started in English, a hint of British accent in his voice. “I meant if she liked the series or not. But you asking how can someone like a fictional character, that’s just unbelievable.”

“What exactly is unbelievable, huh? In this situation, I think developing a liking towards fictional stuffs are unbelievable.” Ten glared up at Johnny, their height difference evident from Jeno’s perspective. Ten squinted as if daring Johnny to fight back, and that was what he tried to do.

“You – ”

“Stop, you filthy Muggles,” Taeyong came in between them and broke them up. A offended gasp came from Johnny but Taeyong didn’t acknowledge it. “The main protagonist today is our Jeno Lee. Not you two...” Taeyong trailed off, as if thinking of names to call them, but shook his head and left.

“Now back to our interview before some people had rudely interrupted us!” Jaehyun clapped his hands together excitedly and shot Johnny and Ten a dirty look, looking back at Jeno with a sickeningly sweet smile on his face afterwards. “Jeno. Please enlighten your precious, beloved hyungs on your... your... crush.”

Jeno stared at him quietly.

“Well, I can help,” Jaemin cleared his throat and Jeno slapped his hand over his mouth before he could let any more words out. Jaemin had spilled enough beans already, he didn't need to spill more now, especially to their hyungs. They would tease him to death and that isn’t how Jeno wanted to live his life. He shuddered. Never.

Jeno let his shoulders slump sadly before letting go of his hand from Jaemin’s mouth. “She’s my classmate..”

“And?” Doyoung asked excitedly, leaning a bit too forward for Jeno’s liking. If his elbow slipped, he would faceplant onto Jeno’s lap. “She’s pretty..”

“From the scale of one to ten?” Yuta pulled Ten to his side with a smug smile, Ten pushing him away while dragging out “Hyuuung,”. Jeno laughed lightly at the question. “It ends at ten?”

“Ohhhh,” Jaehyun cooed, shooting the others a knowing look. “Really makes me feel old, wow. Jeno, you’ve grown up so much. I’m so proud.”

“What does he mean by ‘it ends at ten’?” Ten looked around in confusion, seeming to be the only one who didn’t get why Jaehyun said “Ooh,”. “What? What does it mean?” Taeil placed a hand on Ten’s shoulder, a sign that he was sympathising. 

“I'm not gonna tell everyone who she is yet though.” Jeno's eyesmile made its appearance. Jaemin who sat beside him smiled into his palm. He was the only one who knew who she was. If he just told everyone right now, it would ruin Jeno’s life and it would be so funny to watch. Jaemin breathed out through his nose. Ah, if only.

“Why not?” Sicheng whined, greatly disappointed. “I wanna know!”

“We all want to, Sicheng,” Taeyong peeked from Taeil’s shoulder. “It’s only a matter of time...” He disappeared again.

“At least give us a hint or something.” Jaehyun urged, shaking Jeno’s shoulders. Jeno saw everything around him in a blur for a few seconds. “Okay, hyung, Jesus.”

“You called?" Johnny spoke again in English, with his British accent. Ten got so tired of him that he shoved Johnny away, making him land on Jaemin who let out a high-pitched yell.

“She’s my. Bae.” Jeno stuttered, his face heating up. Jaemin cringed and pretended to puke, unable to handle the cheesiness that was radiating off Jeno. Everytime he spoke, Jaemin wished that it wasn’t about Bitna. (Unfortunately, approximately 68.9% of the time, he talks about Bitna and Bitna only.)

“Bae..?” Doyoung looked up at the ceiling with his eyes narrowed, as if the ceiling would give him the answer. Jeno leaned back onto the sofa, hoping that nobody would catch on.

“Bae Joohyun?” Hansol who had been quiet the whole time, finally spoke for the first time that morning. Jeno's eyes widened in panic, pleading Hansol with his eyes to not tell more.

“Bae Joohyun is older than all of us, man. She attended school when Taeil was attending too, no?” Jaehyun mumbled to himself. “Ah, I don't know.”

Jeno had his fingers crossed behind his back..Please, please please please don't let his dumb hyungs catch on.

“But doesn't she have a younger sister or something? Bae Bina?” Kun also spoke up, finally putting his attention away from his phone. Jeno fell onto the ground on all-fours. The world wasn't in his favor today, out of every days out there.

“Bae Bitna, you mean.” Jaehyun eyed Jeno who was on the ground. “I get it now..”

“What? Get what?” There went Ten again, confused as to what they were talking about now. “What??”

“So our Jeno likes Bae Joohyun’s sister, Bae Bitna, huh...”

“God, please help me.”

“You called again?”

“Leave, and never come back.”


	4. koeun is back

“What is this thing going around about you and Lee Jeno, huh? I was gone for a week to visit Hina at Japan and you took that as an advantage to get yourself a boyfriend? I, Bae Bitna’s friend for years. I feel so betrayed.”

“Welcome back, Koeun.” Bitna rolled her eyes, smiling fondly. A week of not seeing each other in real life and this is how she greeted her. Koeun only. “It's some rumour some guys made up, don't worry about it.”

“I'm not worried about it. I'm worried about you.” Koeun pointed at Bitna before sitting down opposite her, clasping her hands together.

“Well, I don't really know and I don't really care.” Bitna attempted to shrug casually and drank her coffee. She felt Koeun's sharp gaze on her and sipped her coffee slowly, just so she won't be interrogated by Koeun. But too bad, Bitna loved coffee too much to down it down in one go. 

“You can't really say that when you have a crush on his bestfriend, Bitna.” Koeun stared pointedly at Bitna. Bitna pretended as if she was distracted with her fingers, even though she did heard what Koeun had said. “It's not a crush, Koeun. No need to exaggerate.” 

“Then explain those late night talks about Jaemin, Bitna. ‘Oh my God, Jaemin is so charming. Can you believe someone as amazing as him exists? I hope I can marry him one day’.” Koeun acted out with her dreamy tone, looking at the sky with her hands clasped together. She was so into the act that it made Bitna frustrated. How can someone like Koeun be so blunt, so honest, brutal and good at acting at the same time? (Not to mention, her singing skills, but that's irrelevant during this situation.)

“That was during two in the morning!” Bitna raised her voice a little, ignoring the eyes that were set on them. “You know that I don't deal with losing sleep well, Koeun.” Bitna tried her best to defend herself. She could go overboard sometimes with her late night talks (or very early morning talks), that she cannot deny.

“Mhm, sure.” It was Koeun's turn to roll her eyes. “Make up your mind and control your hormones, woman. You make me sick. You change crushes as many times as Hina changes her clothes in a day, and that says a lot.”

“You keep on bringing Hina up,” Bitna moaned sadly and let her head lay on her arm. “I miss her so much. My dancing sucks and no one is there to help me anymore.” Bitna fake-sobbed and wiped at her eyes. Koeun looked at her in distaste.

“As if help isn't right in front of you.” She let out a scoff. “Plus, it's not like your sister isn't great at dancing. You can always ask her for help.”

“I'm lazy to ask her. I like Seulgi unnie better, she's really cute when she's awkward. She's also good at singing and dancing and not to mention, drawing. If I were a guy, I'd be head over heels for her already.” Koeun mumbled, “You seem to be head over heels for her already.”

“Well, I can't exactly deny that. I mean, who doesn't like Seulgi unnie?”

 

“Nana, help me. How do I get the letter into her bag? Would she know it's me? Does she know who the ‘soccer boy’ is?” Jeno spluttered out questions in panic, circling a chair which Jaemin was seated on in their living room. Jaemin's eyes followed him non-stop, but it seemed to give Jaemin the headache, not Jeno. 

“I dunno, man,” Jaemin groaned, clutching his head. Jeno was oblivious to his friend who was in pain. “Maybe you could just hand it to her in person or something. One thing I know about Bitna, she can't handle sappy craps in dramas and all, but she'll appreciate your efforts.”

“And that means?” Jeno stopped and did wild hand gestures. “What does that even mean? She can't handle sappy stuffs but what? I don't understand!”

“Calm down, Jeno. It's just a letter.” Jaemin rubbed his temples. Jeno's yelling didn't do any help to Jaemin's headache. “I meant that she can't handle kissing scenes in movies and stuffs, but she reads fanfics and she goes crazy over her.. What. OTPs? One true pairing? Oh, the pain? I don't know. I quote from her, ‘It's cute, but once it gets too intense, I quit.’” Jaemin rambled, one hand rubbing his temple and the other doing hand gestures, not as identical to Jeno's. Jeno narrowed his eyes.

“And you know this because?”

Jaemin almost laughed at the fact that Jeno thinks that he would steal Bitna away from him. “No worries. She just likes to post on her Instagram stories.”

“What's up with all of you and Instagram?” Jeno crossed his arms against his chest, wondering. “Even Jisung is into that. Is it really that nice?”

“I don't know if you find it nice or not, but it's where the gossips come from, so.” Jaemin shrugged nonchalantly and drank from his juice box. “Wouldn't want to miss any.”

“Yeah, and I could also use it to get back at you for spilling stuffs to Bitna,” Jeno snapped and huffed, circling the chair once again. Jaemin's head throbbed. “Whatever, man. The JaeHina card won't work again. Props to you for trying though.”

 

 

 

jeno1ee (24 minutes ago): JAEMIN LOVES HINA SO MUCH AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT'S REAL

 

herinsuh replied to jeno1ee's story: omg fr????

jeno1ee to herinsuh: yup, confirmed by yours truly

 

herinsuh (3 minutes ago): jaemin x hina is real!! Everybody Go Home

lalalalalami (2 minutes ago): JAEHINA!

makkeuri (2 minutes ago): @jaemin.na We Need To Talk Tonight. what kind of friend are you, not telling your hyung about your lovelife?

kkkkkoeun (1 minute ago): @nakamurahina CHECK YOUR KAKAOTALK

kkkkkoeun (1 minute ago): @nakamurahina RIGHT NOW

kkkkkoeun (1 minute ago): @nakamurahina HASN'T EVEN BEEN A FULL TWENTY FOUR HOURS SINCE I'VE LEFT JAPAN AND YOU DO THIS HUH

kkkkkoeun (1 minute ago): @nakamurahina JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET TO JAPAN AGAIN

kkkkkoeun (26s ago): @nakamurahina JUST WAIT

nakamurahina (11s ago): why are my notifications blowing up

nakamurahina (2s ago): i did not leave korea for this

Jaemin facepalmed, shutting his phone off. “Oh God, Jeno.”


	5. the letter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorrYFOR DISAPPEARING SJDJDJJ IFORGOT ABOUT AO3 i ??? it's ok i'm on wattpad a lot but i forget to update my stories too ahha! ha.. ha
> 
> pls ignore mistakes its been so long rip

“Hello, dummy,” Joohyun stuck her head into her sister's room, who was busy typing away on her laptop with her headphones on. Bitna nodded her head along to the song and mouthed the lyrics, her fingers typing on the keybord frantically. Joohyun leaned against the doorframe and breathed out.

“Guess who brought pizza back home!” Joohyun grinned, which got Bitna's headphones off her head in a matter of seconds. “Where?” She asked excitedly, her eyes shining.

“Not me.” Joohyun cackled and sat next to Bitna on her bed, who let out a groan and scowled. “Go away, grandma.”

“You wish you can get rid of me.” Joohyun laid across the bed and stretched her limbs. “Anyway, I came in here to tell you something. You know about Seulgi opening the dance academy, right?”

“Really?” Bitna exclaimed with excitement once again, putting her laptop aside. “You never told me! My dancing is really rusty these days, y'know.”

“It's always been rusty.” Joohyun laughed while Bitna grimaced. “Back to topic, Seulgi wants you there. She says that she'll take you in for free. There are other choreographers and trainers there too, but Seulgi will be teaching you. This is the perks of having an amazing sister like me.”

Bitna let out a squeal and laid herself over Joohyun, who bursted into a fit of laughter. “Are you that happy?” “It's Seulgi unnie, of course I would be happy!” Bitna was so happy that she couldn't sleep or focus in class for the rest of the week. She waited until the day came, the day when Seulgi will be teaching her. Even by the thought of it, Bitna smiled widely.

That evening, Joohyun dropped by the academy to have a talk with Seulgi before leaving. Bitna didn't even bother waiting for her sister, the hyped girl ran into the training room so quickly just to see her favorite unnie.

“Seulgi unnie!” Bitna greeted happily, hugging her. Seulgi who was in the middle of warming her body up, laughed while hugging the little girl back. She waved at Joohyun when she saw her walking in and received a smile in return.

“How've you been, huh?” Seulgi asked once they both pulled away from the hug. “It's been only a few months, but I can see that you've grown a lot.”

“I've missed you so much, unnie!” Bitna pouted. It wasn't a lie. Bitna went from seeing Seulgi every few months to every few days, it was one of the best things that happened to her. “My dancing skills are quite terrible right now, but I know that you'll be a great trainer!”

“Always so loud, so cute.” Seulgi laughed and ruffled her hair making Bitna feel like a child who just got her Christmas presents. “How about you get yourself used to the surroundings first? I'll have a small talk with your sister for a while, it's been a while.”

”Sure, though I'm not sure that a no-jam unnie would find something to talk about with my sister or not,” Bitna giggled as Seulgi faked an offended gasp, quickly running out of the door. “I'll be back soon!”

“Kids, really.” Joohyun shook her head at her sister's behavior.

Bitna loved everything about the place. She didn't really have a real practice room to dance in before, and the academy was just too good to be true. It felt like a dream come true and she was so fascinated, so in love with everything that came along. The thought of coming here every week to do what she was really passionate about, dancing, was really thrilling.

After almost half an hour of venturing around, Bitna had decided which room was her favorite room. There was a practice room with a set of grey lockers against the left wall, and a mini-bar on the right side of the room. The lights that hung on the ceiling shone a pretty shade of doe blue and Bitna loved it so, so much. She hoped that she'd be able to practice in that particular room someday.

It was indeed a huge place. The practice room was empty, though, and Bitna took the advantage of that and set her bag down, doing some stretches and stared at herself in the mirror before exhaling. It's been a few weeks since she last danced, but she hoped that she'll still be able to pull it off.

The beat started playing from her phone and Bitna walked slowly, pulling a chair along with her. (She hoped that the staffs won't mind her moving the chair away.) A honey-like voice started singing and brought a smile to Bitna's face, which she recognized as Wendy's singing. She kicked the air and placed her feet on the table, allowing her body to dance along to the beat, and never forgetting how to attract the audience with her expressions.

(Bitna thought that she was alone in the practice room, but she was so into the dance that she didn't notice a flustered boy standing at the door.)

 

“Okay, here's a situation,” Jeno halted mid-sentence and coughed into his fist, his face turning red. Jaemin prepared himself for another ramble about Bitna for the nth time that day. “You walk into an empty practice room to get drinks but then you see someone dance there. What would you do?”

“Leave and let them dance, duh.” Jaemin threw his hands up, as if that isn't anybody's first instinct when they walk into a random person dancing. What, do you just stand there and watch until they notice you eventually? Jaemin would rather respect someone's privacy than deal with them being flustered afterwards. He can't imagine the awkwardness he would have to deal with.

“But it's not just any someone!” Jeno exclaimed, exasperated. “It's someone special.”

“Your mom? Like I said, I would leave.”

“Ugh, Nana.” Jeno moaned in despair. “You're no help.”

“I don't have any energy to argue with you anymore, pretty boy.” Jaemin said calmly. He had sat through Jeno's rambling for the whole day already, sitting on the same spot. Jeno wouldn't even let him go get his snacks by himself. “What did you do, anyway?”

“I.. stood there and watched because I was too.. uh. How do you say this?” Jeno bit on his bottom lip, thinking of the right word to say. “I don't know. I just stood there and watch and left right before the song stopped.”

“How did it felt like when you watched him or her dancing?” Jaemin asked, rolling around the carpeted floor. Jeno almost kicked him a few times.

“It gives me that feeling when I watch Jisung dance or Taeyong hyung rap,” Jeno recalled the moment that happened a few hours ago. “That feeling that makes you go.. Wow. This person is so talented, I wanna be like them too. I don't know how to put it into words. You know how Mark hyung's diligence and passion is contagious, yeah? If you were there, you'd think ‘I want to work as hard as she does’,” Jeno didn't realize that he was spitting continuous sentences after another. Jaemin had both his arms behind his head, his feet tapping against the floor. Which other person would make his bestfriend feel this way?

“I can relate.” Jaemin replied. “So it happened at the dance academy that your mom sent you off to?”

“Mm-hmm.” Jeno hummed, thanking his mom internally for sending him to that academy, out of every dance academies out there. It took him a lot of convincing to do. The only reason his mother agreed to send him there was because he had told her that Hansol was also one of the trainers there, but that was after almost two hours of begging. If only Jeno had brought him up earlier. “You should join too, Nana.”

“Hansol hyung told me about it. I'm planning to,” Just then, something came up in Jaemin's mind and he sat up quickly. “About your letter, I asked Koeun to give it to Bitna already. I had to go through Koeun out of everyone out there,” Jaemin shuddered in horror, making Jeno chuckle. “Be grateful to me.”

“I am, don't worry.” Jeno stretched out his arms, his eyesmile never disappearing. “I wonder how her reaction would be like.”

 

 

  
“Dear Bitna...” Joohyun read out from the letter in her hand, holding back her cackles. Behind her, Bitna who was too embarrassed to open the letter, buried her face into the pillow so she wouldn't have to die of embarrassment.

“I've written this letter to tell you that I have this massive crush on you. It's as massive as Renjun's love for Moomin and Chenle's love for Marvel. And also Jaemin's love for shopping, if you care enough.” Up until this point, Joohyun was already laughing so hard at the cheesiness while Bitna sobbed into her pillow. Gosh, why couldn't she have read the letter by herself? She wasn't sure which was worse, dying of cringy-ness by herself or double the embarrassment she has to deal with from her sister. It was too late to take anything back, anyway.

“I've managed to keep this as a secret for as long as I can, it lasted for months. Can you believe? Well, until my friend spread it around, anyway.” Joohyun stopped there and turned to her sister, who couldn't take it any more. Joohyun, being the great sister she was, slapped Bitna's ass to gain her attention. “Unnie!” Bitna whined, to which Joohyun didn't mind. “What does he mean by ‘until my friend spread it around?’” Joohyun placed the letter down onto the bed, beside her thigh. “Was there any rumour that went around?”

Bitna couldn't stop herself from blushing. Joohyun stared at her expectantly, waiting for her answer. “There was this one of me and Lee Jeno...”

 

 

“You know, Nana, I didn't really proofread what I wrote in the letter.” Right when Jaemin was ready to fall into a peaceful slumber, Jeno's voice pulled him right back up. Jaemin smiled painfully, acknowledging his bestfriend. “Come again?”

“I didn't check what I wrote after I finished the letter. Did I mess anything up?” Jeno hissed and fell quiet, as if he was contemplating life. Which he probably was. From his side, Jaemin wondered if he had the ability to sleep with his eyes open or not.

“Try to remember what you wrote.” Jaemin mumbled sleepily, wrapping his noodle-like arms and legs around Jeno's body. Jeno didn't move an inch.

“Dear Bitna..” The rest of Jeno's confession went unheard by Jaemin as sleep was finally consuming him once more. Poor boy, he was sleeping so peacefully until Jeno's body flinched so hard, making Jaemin flinch as well, awake once again.

“I wrote ‘The rumours are true, after all.’”

“Too bad, so sad.” Jaemin rolled over to his side and hugged his bolster, drifting off to sleep for the third time that night. Jeno panicked so much that he lost sleep.


End file.
